Don't Run
by Lastavica
Summary: Bruce said he was sorry. What more can he do?
1. Chapter 1

A knock sounded softly on the door. She looked up from her perch on the windowsill. The lights of the city down below had been holding her attention for some time now. Assuming that it was Clint, she got up to unlock the door. Nobody else but him would be there, especially at this hour. She unlocked the door with a loud click to let him know he was welcome, and then went right back to her seat at the window. There were no formalities between her and Barton, only familiarity. However, the door didn't open immediately. Clint's I-don't-give-a-shit face didn't appear from around the door. Instead, there was a long hesitation before the handle turned. There was no confident entry. The perpetually-out-of-place face of Dr. Banner sheepishly peeked in.

She sat straighter.

"Doctor."

"Hi." he said awkwardly. "Can I, uh, come in?"

Surprised, she paused.

"Yeah. Of course."

He stepped in quietly and closed the door behind him.

He could already see it on her face. Her fear of the Other Guy.

"What can I do for you, Doctor?" She asked.

He fidgeted with his hands and stepped forward.

"I came to apologize."

"What for?"

"For trying to kill you."

"That wasn't you."

Bruce looked down.

"Yeah, well, I'm still sorry."

The corner of her mouth turned upwards.

"All's forgiven." she said indifferently.

He looked back at her. "But is all well?"

"What do you mean?"

"I mean..." Bruce took a few more steps toward Natasha. "Regardless of my responsibility, the Other Guy still attacked you. ...Are you ok?"

She was taken aback. She didn't know why.

"Yeah." she said quickly.

"But you're eyes still follow me around." He said.

All at once she wasn't the secret she thought she had been. Suddenly out in the open, she reacted accordingly; fast and fiercely.

"Because you turn into a monster! What do you want from me, Bruce?"

He bit his lip.

"And I'm sorry for that."

Natasha was silent.

They both knew he couldn't help that, but what could she say.

He stood awkwardly for a moment.

"Well," he said "goodnight then." And he turned to leave.

"Goodnight." was all she said as she watched him go.

Bruce opened the door and slipped out into the hall.


	2. Chapter 2

_**In the movie Bruce apologizes to Natasha after he arrives on the motorcycle. She accepts his apology by saying "No, we could use a little worse." **_

_**This is operating as though that never happened. Which seems silly because I love that moment. lol Regardless, I h**__**ope you dig this.**_

_**The previous chapter took place a couple of days after the battle.**_

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Only a few days after the events, Natasha disappeared along with Barton. Nobody knew where they'd gone and nobody asked. The pair clearly needed time and space. It was quietly and collectively accepted that Clint especially needed to get away. They couldn't seen that Natasha needed it just as much.

Steve spent most of his time helping clear rubble in the city, and assisting police and firefighters in any way he could. He refused to speak to anybody who tried to interview him about The Avengers, but continued to show up and be a hero for the people.

Tony went to work on the tower and Pepper got back into the swing of things at Stark Industries. Thanks to an alien invasion, attending to business there became a lot more time consuming for the CEO.

Thor was still gone, back on Asgard.

Bruce was relaxing, or at least trying to. He was hiding in a safe place and struggling to remember that he didn't have to hide anymore. It was hard.

Maybe a month later, the tentative "team" found themselves one evening sitting around in Tony's penthouse. Clint perched on the back of one of the couches. Not even Pepper bothered to ask him not to keep his boots on the cushions. His right knee leaned subtly against Nastasha's left shoulder. He didn't say anything, but his greyish eyes carefully followed the faces and movements of everyone in the room. Natasha sat cross legged, holding a steaming cup of tea in her hands as she engaged in subdued conversation with Steve who was sitting across form them in a comfortable chair. Pepper, sat in another nearby chair and mostly listened. She was tired and really didn't have much to add to their conversation about the Soviet's role in WWII. Though, listening to it was interesting enough. She didn't mind.

They'd eaten dinner together and now each enjoyed tea or coffee.

Bruce sat at the table, sipping decaf coffee and trying to listen to Tony about something they had started work on in the lab. His attention, however, was elsewhere. It was on Natasha. He watched her from behind his mug. It was unclear to him why it mattered that she was afraid of him. So what? Most people were. Why was Natasha any different?

Maybe spending some weeks with mostly just Tony, Pepper, and a little bit of Steve had spoiled him. Only 3 days ago she and Clint had arrived from their hiatus. Again, nobody asked where they'd gone. Not even Tony. Since then, Bruce had seen her eyes follow his movements, and the rigidness in her body when he was around. He didn't like it. What was worse, he was annoyed at himself for caring.

Admittedly, he still felt a little stupid for going to her room four weeks ago to apologize. Both of them had been more vulnerable in that moment then either would ever prefer. But it happened, and he tried not to worry about it.

When Steve eventually finished his mug of coffee, he was the first to disappear off to bed. Pepper left soon after, and then Natasha. Oddly, Clint did not immediately follow her, but stayed a little longer just listening to Stark and Banner's conversation. Bruce told Tony he had to get to bed as soon as Clint showed signs of leaving. When he rose, Bruce went with him to the elevator.

When the doors closed there was silence. It wasn't awkward, it was just Clint.

Bruce had to ask. He felt like juvenile, but he was tired of guessing, of feeling unacceptable in this place where he finally belonged. Well, at least for now he felt like he did.

"Does Natasha hate me?"

Clint's head turned to him. His stormy eyes assessed Bruce's face, searching his intentions. His thoughts could not be guessed.

"She doesn't hate you." He said simply and didn't say anything else. He gaze returned to the elevator door.

Clint's impenetrable wall of a face stopped Bruce from asking anything more. He just had to take that for what it was. The elevator opened soon after and Clint left him there without another word.

Bruce heaved a sigh and watched the numbers recede a little more before it was his turn to get out.


	3. Chapter 3

Clint entered the room quietly and closed the door behind him. Natasha was still awake just as he'd expected. It was why he didn't go with her when she left the penthouse first. At some point she always required some solitude and Clint would never deny her that. She was sitting, cross-legged in the window. Her head was turned toward the city below. Both of them liked being so high above the city, and so far they liked staying in the tower. It felt safe there, safer than on the carrier, or on any base or safe house. They were hidden up high, together.

For a moment, as Clint removed his watch and set it down, he took in the simple sight of her short red hair silhouetted against the dim night.

"So Bruce thinks you hate him." he said casually.

"I don't." She responded simply. Her eyes shifted from the city to the gold band around her finger. She twisted it a few times, something she only did when her mind was preoccupied. Natasha did not wear her ring all the time, and returned it to her finger only when she and Clint were alone. Clint kept his on a chain which always remained hidden under his shirt and close to his heart. Even after everything, neither of them felt that the "team" needed to know about their bond yet. Maybe sometime, but they still only trusted each other. Fury didn't even know, though he knew they were close, inseparable even. Coulson was the only person who ever knew of their marriage, and he was dead.

At that moment, though, Natasha Romanoff had other secrets she wished to keep hidden. She did not like being out in the open. Her fear wasn't a secret to Banner. Things were not as they should be. Bruce Banner, a man she could do away with in seconds, held a power over her. And he didn't even want that power. Natasha knew he couldn't understand what that meant for her, but he could see that she was unnerved. That was what she considered unacceptable. But there was no hand to play, no contingency, no extraction. She was there. Bruce was there.

The only thing that felt normal was hiding out with her husband, trying to mend wounds in secret. The wounds, however, were far from the norm. Clint still reeled from doing time as a marionette and she was reeling from from facing true powerlessness for the first time, and somebody else knowing it bothered her.

Clint sat on the edge of the bed and pulled off his boots. "It's ok if you're still afraid." He said.

"I'm not afraid." She responded, looking at him sharply. The lights in the room were still off and the faint light from outside glinted in her eyes. "I _was_ afraid."

He nodded knowingly, then rose quietly and came over to her. Without a word she made room for him beside her. Before he sat down, Clint pulled the chain out from under the collar of his shirt. He held up his ring for her to see. She looked at it, then back at his eyes.

"Be straight with me, Tasha... Please." He said.

Then he pulled himself onto the sill where he sat facing her. A few seconds later she leaned toward him. He leaned in too. Pressing their foreheads together she whispered "He wasn't there. How can I know he tried to kill me, the one time I had no angle, and he wasn't even there?"

"I'm here."

"Not helpful." She said dryly as she sat straight again. Her eyes fell back upon the city.

Clint's shoulder shook slightly with a little laughter. "Maybe it's a good thing... It's taken your whole life to run into something you couldn't get around. Life's been good to you so far?"

"Yeah. That's it." Her words dripped with sarcasm. "Barton, that is the worst interpretation of a situation I've ever heard."

"Well, I'm here aren't I."

The corners of her mouth turned up. It was true. Life had given her Clint.

"I don't hate Banner." She said, getting serious again. "He just wasn't there."

"I know." Clint said, and he did understand. For a moment they both got quiet again until he said "But you're alive, and Bruce never wanted to hurt you."

She looked over at Clint. His eyes were staring absently at his hands, his mind elsewhere.

Natasha reached out her hand to his and broke his reverie. Clint's deep eyes met hers.

"Are we talking about Bruce?" She asked.

Clint looked away from her. Then he shook his head.

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**_Ok. It's official. This runs in the same universe as "Cold". Obviously this story begins after that. Clint and Nat are married (sorry if you were hoping for Bruce/Natasha), and, unlike in "Total", I'm holding to canon(?)/my headcanon that Natasha's can't have children. Thanks Red Room. *goes and cries forever*_**

**_(Because otherwise, they'd totally have some kids by now. I love families. What can I say?_**

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**_I would love to know if you dig it. :D_**


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